The National Sleep Foundation reports that more than 50 percent of American adults suffer from symptoms of insomnia a few nights a week or more. Sleep experts recommend that adults get seven to nine hours of sleep a night for good health, yet many get considerably less. Inadequate sleep is associated with chronic health problems such as heart disease, stroke, and breast cancer.

The ancient practice of yoga nidra, also known as yogic sleep, is a meditative practice that results in conscious deep sleep. Current research suggests that yoga nidra can help relieve menstrual problems, diabetes symptoms and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In honor of National Sleep Awareness Week in March, here's three health benefits of yoga nidra.

Yoga Nidra Improves Menstrual Problems

A 2012 study published in the Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology reports yoga nidra may improve blood pressure and heart rate variables in patients with menstrual problems.

Researchers at the Chatrapati Sahuji Maharaj Medical University in India administered either a yoga nidra program or no yoga (control group) to 150 women with menstrual disturbances.

The yoga group participated in yoga nidra practice for 30 to 40 minutes daily, five days per week for six months. Autonomic testing was obtained from the participants before and after the study.

The researchers found that blood pressure, postural hypotension, sustained hand grip and heart rate variables were significantly improved in the yoga group.

Yoga Nidra May Promote Diabetes Management

A recent study published in the Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology found yoga nidra may reduce the symptoms of diabetes and help control blood glucose levels.

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Elaine Gavalas: 3 Yoga Nidra Health Benefits

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Is yoga secular or religious?

Thats the conundrum at the heart of a new legal battle in Encinitas, California over the teaching of yoga in public schools.

In a lawsuit filed last month, a couple with two children in the Encinitas schools charge that the district is unconstitutionally promoting religion by giving yoga classes twice a week to students during the school day.

School officials insist that the yoga classes are for physical fitness and have nothing to do with religion or religious indoctrination.

The outcome of case could impact hundreds of other public schools nationwide that incorporate yoga postures and breathing exercises into their wellness and fitness programs.

Because yoga is used to describe a bewildering variety of classes and programs that dot the American landscape, from retreat centers and ashrams to shopping malls and gyms, its easy to forget that yoga originated in ancient India as a school of Hindu philosophy.

Many yoga practitioners embrace the religious roots and spiritual meaning of yoga while many others view yoga largely as a healthy exercise and stress reduction regimen.

Public schools, of course, adopt the healthy exercise definition in order to comply with the First Amendments prohibition of school promotion or endorsement of religion. Thats why yoga programs adopted by schools all claim to be secular, although they negotiate the traditional religious framework in a variety of ways.

On one end of the spectrum, a program offered to schools called Grounded retains Sanskrit terms such as asanas (poses) and doesnt shy away from referencing the Chakra System, the seven major energy centers in the body as understood in many Eastern religious traditions.

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Battling over yoga in public schools

Quote of the day:

Yoga has a sly, clever way of short circuiting the mental patterns that cause anxiety.

Baxter Bell

A Prana Power Yoga student and reader asked me to write about Yoga and mental health/healing stress and anxiety. I began practicing due to lower back pain, but then went through a really unhealthy relationship in my life. Yoga allowed me to find ways to heal that stress and anxiety, and eventually move forward gracefully."

This is amazing and miraculous. Kudos to her.

I don't use "miraculous" as in "This ain't never gonna happen to or for you--it's a miracle!" But instead as in "I expect miracles on my mat every day. And I get 'em."

I cannot overemphasize the benefits of a regular yoga practice for mental health. I am trained as a clinical psychologist and while I believe in short term, intention focused therapy which utilizes Deliberate Creation and the Law of Attraction, I also believe that a regular yoga practice is key to one's mental health.

As I explain in my book, I believe in and love yoga asana, but I know some people don't and that's cool--but everyone has a "yoga" that calms, focuses, and grounds them, helping them to reconnect with their authentic self and remember who they are. This might be baking or taking a bath or reading or writing or walking or swimming or gardening. The list is endless.

But find your "yoga" and do it often to maintain a bill of sparkling clean mental health. If you wanna try Prana, email me and I'll give you a free class pass.

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Yoga and Mental Health

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Health and Fitness Video 13
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Health and Fitness Video 15
The "Do This", "Do That" game of Day 1 with Level 2 difficulty a 3rd option "Do Do" included. Health and Fitness (NSO), IIT Kharagpur

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